53. My Week with Marilyn (dir. Simon Curtis, UK/USA, 2011)
An enthusiastic young man (Eddie Redmayne) gets his first job in the film business as 3rd Assistant Director on The Prince and the Showgirl, starring Sir Laurence Olivier (Kenneth Branagh) and Marilyn Monroe (Michelle Williams).
This is neither particularly well-directed nor particularly well-written, but it is not a bad film. Whatever real value there is to be found in the film is in the acting: Williams, Branagh and Judi Dench are excellent; Dominic Cooper, Toby Jones, Zoë Wannamaker and Emma Watson do well with small roles; Eddie Redmayne’s vague, lopsided, slack grin is just about tolerable. Having said all of that, of course, Williams’s performance (for which she received her third Oscar nomination) is hardly among her best: it is nowhere near her wonderful turns in Blue Valentine, Wendy and Lucy, Synecdoche, New York or Meek’s Cutoff.
Verdict: pleasant viewing - “this is nice”
